


Finding Family

by Foxcenrel19



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Minor Character Death, Non-graphic assault, not discriptive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-01-19 14:23:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1473013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxcenrel19/pseuds/Foxcenrel19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lauren Waite finds herself face to face with the rest of the Atlanta group. While some of the group are hesitant to accept her into their makeshift family, some are more accepting. She finds herself in the unwanted attention of some, and fighting to find the attention of others. She struggles to find her place among an already settled group, all while struggling to find a reason to keep going in the zombie apocalypse. Daryl/Fem.OC</p><p>(Revision in progress, the first couple of chapters are really bad because I was (And still sort of am) finding my writing style. All typos and grammatical errors are my own, every beta I've had prior bailed 2 weeks in.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I will be posting updates sporatically on my tumblr ( http://cashasfallenandhecantgetup.tumblr.com/tagged/Finding-Family ) Feel free to go watch that, and feel free to poke at me if i take long breaks or anything. Not beta'd.

She'd only been with the group a few weeks but in that time she felt like they'd warmed to her as much as anyone could in their situation.

After running for what felt like ages and hiding in random buildings when it got too dark for her to go any further, she had felt like all was hopeless before she'd stumbled across them on the highway.

Lauren knew how to handle herself for the most part. Raised in the south, Alabama to be precise, it was the norm for a woman to be a little kickass. Though she could handle herself, it didn't mean she didn't tire or get scared, and as a 22 year old all by herself, she was proud to say she had kept her cool for so long.

She had pushed hard, and she had fought even harder, but she was exhausted and didn't think she could go any further.

That's when she stumbled across the car.

Lauren ran to the vehicle and jumped into the passenger seat, just sitting there, trying to catch her breath. She knew it wouldn't be long until the walker caught up to her, she just hoped that should the need arise, she'd be able to hot wire the car.

She closed her eyes, leaning back against the head rest when suddenly she was jerked out of the seat by her arm and thrown to the ground with a gun shoved in her face. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the pain to come. When she heard the gun shot she never expected to be able to open her eyes, but when she did she noticed the man that had thrown her out of the car was shooting the walker that had stumbled out of the woods behind her.

"Shane, throw her in the back seat, we have to get going!" the man on the opposite side of the car shouted. Throwing open the driver side door, the man climbed inside. Lauren was yanked up roughly by her arm and shoved into the backseat, the other man jumping in beside her, the gun still pointed at her head.

"Where did you come from?" he barked. In her mind Lauren pictured a wolf with its hackles raised. She tried to collect her thoughts, but having a gun shoved in her face wasn't making it easy.

"My name is Lauren Waite, and I'm from Montgomery. Was in Riverdale when this whole thing started and I've been travelling by myself since then." Lauren felt her throat clench, she thought of the reasons why she had been in Riverdale in the first place, and her eyes well up. She clenched her eyes tight and took deep breaths.

Pull yourself together girl. You told yourself you wouldn't cry.

Releasing her breath, she opened her eyes and regarded the gunman seriously. "I appreciate this." She bowed her head and looked at her knees letting out a breath and starting to relax.

She was startled when the driver suddenly spoke.

"My name's Rick Grimes. I'm sorry to hear about your troubles." The man, Rick, glanced at her briefly in the rear-view mirror.

"I'm Shane Walsh." the man beside her spoke up, making her jump.

Lauren gave a small grin to both men. "It's a pleasure to meet you both, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Grimes." She relaxed back into her seat, letting her eyes fall closed and letting herself lean back on the seat. Her calf muscles were burning and she could feel the muscles twitching in exhaustion..

Shane gave Rick a look through the seats and Rick just nodded. "I know Shane, I know." Shane just gave a short nod and looked back out the window. Her fate would be discussed in full when they got back to the farm.

The car flew down the dirt road, kicking up a storm of dust behind it, the farm house in sight. Rick tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, anxious to get back to the farm. He glanced back at the girl worriedly. She seemed so young and she was so thin. At least if she couldn't stay permanently, he would make sure she got back to a decent weight and full strength.

He pulled up next to the other vehicles and turned off the car. He looked back at Shane to see him already out of the vehicle and walking away. With a sigh Rick climbed out and softly shut his door, making sure not to wake the girl who had nodded off sometime during the drive back. He grabbed the door handle and pulled open her door, reaching in and carefully lifting her out, carrying her like he used to carry Carl when he would fall asleep in the car. He quietly kicked the car door shut before walking towards the house. Climbing the porch steps, he tapped the door with his boot. Maggie opened it, and Rick tilted his head.

"Want to gather everyone in the living room while I go lay her in Hershel's room?" he asked as he walked up the stairs. He lay the girl down in Hershel's room, covering her with a sheet. He touched her forehead lightly, and then went back downstairs.

"Rick! What's this I hear about you bringing a girl here?" Lori snapped, jumping to her feet the moment Rick walked into the parlor.

"Lori, if you'll calm down I'll explain," Rick said, sitting down on the chair and looking around. "Where's Daryl?"

"He's on his way," Shane said as he walked through the door.

The room got silent, but everyone's minds were buzzing. Who was this mysterious girl that Shane and Rick picked up, and where did she come from? Everyone's heads snapped towards the door as Daryl walked in and took his spot leaning against the wall.

"Now I know everyone's wondering who the girl is that Shane and I brought back. Her name is Lauren Waite and she's from Alabama."

A collective gasp went around the room.

"She said she was in Riverdale when everything started, said she had been on her own since the beginning."

"But, Alabama Rick, that's like 300 miles!" Carol remarked, and Rick nodded to her.

"So what are we going to do with her?" Dale asked, a frown on his face.

"She's at least staying for a few days, give Hershel a chance to check her over and help get her back up to strength. After that is up for debate." Rick shot a look at Hershel who gave a nod.

"Why don't we wait until she's feeling up to par, and then we'll talk about her fate here?" Dale suggested standing up. "That way we can get to know her a little to see if she'll fit in."

Lauren opened her eyes, groaning softly.

As her sight finally registered she spotted the white walls and the dark wooden dresser. She slowly sat up and the sheet pooled around her waist.

Where am I? she thought slowly getting out of the warm bed she was in. She walked toward the door apprehensively, reaching out and pulling the door open softly. She yelped as the door swung open. A woman stood in the doorway, a tray of food in her hands.

"Oh, you're awake! I'm Andrea." The woman smiled, lowering her fist. "Would you like to come downstairs and eat with the rest of us or would you be more comfortable eating in here?" Andrea asked, shifting the tray to the other hand.

As shocked as Lauren was, she nodded her head slowly and croaked out her answer. "With y'all, if that's no trouble." She coughed at the end, her throat dry and scratchy from not drinking anything in the last few hours.

Andrea nodded. "Alright, come with me, and we'll get you a drink while we're at it." She slowly led Lauren down the stairs into the dining room.

"Look everyone, our mysterious sleeping beauty is awake. Lori, would you fetch her a glass of water?" she asked as she laid down the tray of food on the table. "Go ahead, sit. No one is going to hurt you here."

Lauren slowly pulled out the chair and sat down, relaxing into the plush dining chair and waiting patiently for everyone to be seated with their food. Once everyone was seated and started eating, she dug right in.

"So Lauren, how long have you been out on your own?" Carol asked timidly, glancing up at Lauren briefly.

Taking a drink from her water, Lauren looked up. "Well I'm not too sure. My family was in Riverdale on May 23rd and the attacks started a few days later, the 28th maybe. I've been going ever since."Lauren bowed her head and dove back into her meal. She hadn't had good food like this in what felt like forever. She looked up as Carol gasped.

"The 28th?" She exclaimed. "Why that's almost two whole months! You must have been so scared for a girl your age." a look of sympathy crossed her face.

"It hasn't been that bad. I've been left home many a 'times, sometimes for weeks on end, as a teenager, so I'm used to fending for myself I guess," she said with a shrug.

"So Lauren, how old are you exactly?" Lori said with a snooty smile. She didn't like this new girl, and she wasn't trying very hard to hide it either.

"I'll be twenty-three come my next birthday,." Lauren said looking up at Lori, before averting her eyes when she caught the glare Lori sent her way.

"You can't be! You look so young!" Exclaimed Glenn, just as shocked as everyone. The girl looked to be about 17.

Lauren chuckled, "Yeah, I used to get that all the time. I used to get carded a lot when I went places." She said with a shrug. "This is delicious, by the way." She said indicating towards the food.

"Thank you." Maggie said with a smile, "I'm glad you like it."

The chatter around the dining room ended and they continued to eat in silence. Lauren slowed down, eating her food at a more languid pace to savor each and every bite.

She didn't know when the opportunity for a meal might come up again.

Later that evening some of the survivors showed Lauren around camp, where certain tasks were preformed, who stayed where, the general run down of things. Just as they were about to go back inside Lauren spotted a tent in the distance.

"Who stays over there?" she asked, pointing in the direction of the tree tent.

"Oh, that's Dixon's camp. He doesn't interact much with the group since they lost sophia," Maggie said with a sad smile on her face. "We all think he feels bad, 'cause he's been trying so hard to find her." She paused, giving a moment of thought. "Anyways, if you want to walk around, feel free. Just try not to stray too far, wouldn't want anything to happen." Maggie turned towards the house and walked back inside.

Lauren looked towards the house before peering at the camp site in the distance. She was intrigued by the illusive Mr. Dixon, and she was about to pay him a visit. Trudging along, she noticed how far out his campsite actually was from the others, and should anything happen it would take the others a long time to reach him. She approached the tent carefully and apprehensively, nervous of how the man would act to her being in his camp.

"Hello? Uh, Dixon?" she called out softly, worry starting to set in when there was no answer. She cried out as a hand grabbed her shoulder and when she spun around she was met with the irritated face of a man she hadn't met yet.

"What d'you want?" his voice was gruff, and Lauren backed up a pace as he dropped several dead squirrels on the ground that he had been holding.

Panting slightly, Lauren spoke cautiously. "I hadn't seen you at dinner and wanted to introduce myself. I'm Lauren." She held out her hand for a few awkward moments waiting for Him to reciprocate the action. When he didn't she slowly lowered her hand back down to her side.

"Daryl," he huffed out. "You should head back to the house," he muttered as he turned away from her, throwing another small log onto his fire before sitting down to clean his squirrels.

"And why is that?" she asked with a huff. Not even three minutes into meeting the man and he was already underestimating her.

"Cause the last thing we need is another useless person around here," Daryl grumbled. Proceeding to cut up the bits of squirrel, he then tossed them into some water to boil.

"Excuse me? I can handle myself pretty damn well thank you very much!" she snapped, her southern drawl coming out thick.

"You seem pretty useless to me." Daryl gave the pot a quick stir.

"But you don't even know me, so you can't decide that for yourself just yet!" she hissed.

"No shit I don't know ya. No one does. And t'be honest, I'm not sure I wanna know ya!" Daryl bit out with a snarl.

"Who the hell do you think you are? I've done nothing but been civil to you and you treat me like I'm one of those brain dead walkers. I'll have you know I am far from useless!" Lauren huffed, turning on her heel and storming back towards the house.

When she came into the house she gave to door a push, slamming it shut and letting out a gruff yell. Glenn, Maggie and Beth came running around the corner, their faces alarmed.

"Lauren what's wrong?" Glenn asked moving to stand in front of her.

"What a bastard! Who does he think he is? Thinking he's so much better than me. I'll show him. I am FAR from useless and I'll prove it!" she finished with a huff. Her breathing was labored and rough and her nails were biting in the palms of her hands leaving small red half-moons, her fists were clenched so tight.

"Lauren, who are you talking about?" Maggie questioned, worry etched onto her face.

"That stupid Daryl. I went to introduce myself and he treated me no better then he would a damned dog." she bounced. "I'll show him useless," she growled, walking into the kitchen to grab a drink of water.

When she was done she walked back into the parlor and sat down on one of the plush chairs, letting herself calm down for the night. In the morning she'd show him why she made it this far on her own. If he thought he'd get to play hero for her, he was sorely mistaken. Lauren Waite was no damsel in distress.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Lauren was up at the crack of dawn, collecting water from the well and feeding the chickens some of the grain they had in storage. She even put out some hay for the cattle, busying herself with a myriad of chores. She didn't feel like talking to anyone this early in the morning. She was never a morning person, but she could also never seem to sleep in.

Grabbing some of the water she gathered earlier, Lauren went and collected the hampers full of dirty clothes. Bringing them outside, she set them on the porch by a basin of water. Using an old trick her father taught her, she grabbed some ashes from the fire, placed them in a handkerchief she had on her and poured water on them into a tin can. She took the tin can and placed it on the side of the fire pit until it boiled, and then she took it off. She then grabbed a bit of gristle from the beef left from last night's dinner and put it into the lye and stirred it with a stick until it dissolved. She waited for a little while before going back to the clothes and sticking the can in some water, cooling it off quickly.

Silently, she started to clean everyone's clothes, keeping them all in separate piles so things didn't get confused. When all the house member's clothes were clean, she hung them all up on the clothes line, still keeping them in groups, then placed each person's basket underneath their respective clothes.

Lauren took a deep breath, wandering towards the edge of the farm, towards Daryl's camp. Like everyone else, his laundry basket was sitting outside his tent. Making sure she was quiet in case he was still asleep, she grabbed the basket and turned around and headed back towards the house. She grabbed her homemade soap and started washing his clothes. She let her hands move automatically, already used to the rhythm.

Lauren let her thoughts wander, wondering about her family and if they understood what was going on or if they were suffering. Unexpectedly, tears started to make their way down her face, leaving clear trails through the dirt and grime that had gathered on her face dirty tear tracks on her face , even as she continued to scrub Daryl's clothes clean.

After she finished with Daryl's clothes, Lauren headed off to the coop to collect the eggs the hens had laid, and brought them back to the farm house to put in a basket in the kitchen.

She leaned against a counter, thinking over what else needed done. She didn't bother to cook breakfast, as she wasn't a very good cook. She remembered seeing a cross bow at Daryl's makeshift camp, with a quiver containing three bolts.

Pushing away from the counter quickly, Lauren exited the house, a spring in her step. There were a few trees close to the property, and Laruen picked a large maple tree, settling beneath it. Sitting beneath the broad tree, Lauren pulled out the switch blade from her boot. Looking down at the side of it, she caressed her father's name that was engraved into the knife's handle . Reaching up towards a few of the lower branches, she selected a few potentially sturdy candidates suitable for bolts. Snapping the branches free, she sat back down, witling at the wood with her knife. Beneath her hands, a tip took shape, notches along the end of the branch added to add wings to later on.,

By lunch time Lauren had a pile of roughly 45 bolts carved out. Her fingers were blistering and sore but she dealt with it despite the pain. Done for the day, she stood up, picking her way through the grass back to the farm house. Pushing the door open, she was surprised to see everyone hurrying around, and as the door clacked shut behind her, everyone turned to look.

"Lauren! There y'are," Beth said, shooting her a grin. "We've been looking for ya everywhere!"

Rubbing the back of her neck lightly, Lauren gave a nervous chuckle. "Sorry, I couldn't stay in bed any longer and decided to get some work done." She glanced around. "Has breakfast been served yet?"

Maggie laughed as Lauren's stomach growled. "Nah, we couldn't find ya and wanted to wait to see if you'd turn up again." She turned into the kitchen, coninueing to talk over her shoulder.. "So I assume you're the one who brought the eggs into the house.?" At Lauren's nod, Maggie grined, "Thank you very much, I appreciate it."

Lauren blushed , not used to attention or praisethe attention, before hustling to catch up with Maggie in the kitchen. "Yeah, I was up pretty early and did some daily things. Fed the livestock, got the eggs, and e'eryone's laundry is outside dryin' out. It should be just about done by now." She leaned against the counter. "I would'a made food, but I never was a good cook."

"S'alright, you did quite enough for your first day here," Andrea said, coming into the kitchen and starting to help Maggie with the food prep. "Why don't you go collect the boys? They should all be outside either by the RV or down by the barn. You don't seem to like being cooped up." She gave Lauren a quick grin.

"I can do that," Lauren agreed." Want me to tell 'em breakfast is on the way to the table?"

"That's perfect," Maggie said.

The Atlanta sun was blazing as Lauren walked outside. The air was close and humid, much warmer than it had been before entering the house. She took a quick swing by the big maple tree, collecting her bolts. On her way to the barn, she dumped them in a pile outside Daryl's camp. As she neared the barn she heard voices. She knew it was wrong, but curiosity got the better of her and Lauren hunkered close to the barn wall to listen.

"She isn't a threat Shane! She has no one to go running to! She's still just a young woman! She's still a child!" Rick cried out, apparently trying to drill some sense into Shane's head.

Lauren quickly realized it was a debate on whether or not she should stay. Stepping away from the barn, she made a point of making a lot of noise as she came around the corner.

"Rick? Shane? The ladies wanted me to tell y'all breakfast is on the table." Lauren rubbed her arm nervously as both men stared at her. It was a nervous tick she had picked up as a kid, and she struggled to keep her arms still.

"Alright, thank you, Lauren. We'll be there in a moment," Rick said with a forced smile.

Lauren gave him a nervous grin, backing away and hurrying back towards the house. Keeping her head down, she wrapped her arms around herself self-consciously.

Are they going to kick me out? She thought worriedly. Where would I go? What if-

Lauren gasped as she crashed headlong into someone's chest. Rough hands grabbed her arms to keep her from falling, fingers digging into the soft curve of her biceps.

It was Daryl. Lauren scowled at him, pulling herself free. She tried to step around him but the insufferable man blocked her every attempt to move past him.

"Can I help you Mr. Dixon?" Lauren asked with an impatient sigh, settling her hands on her hips.

Daryl just stared at her, an odd look on his face, before shaking his head with a huff. Turning on his heel, he stomped back towards his tent.

Lauren stared after him.

What a weirdo.

She shrugged, continuing towards the house. Before she reached the edge of the house she paused, glancing over towards Daryl's tent.

" Breakfast is on the table if you're interested!" she called to him, giving him a little smirk as he scowled towards her.

Two can play that game, Mister-"you-can't-take-care-of-yourself-little-gir l" she thought triumphantly.

After breakfast, Lauren spread out on the porch to soak up the sun's rays. It was comforting, and she could feel herself slipping into a calm zen-like zone.

Of course the hillbilly had to ruin it.

Daryl suddenly loomed over her, blocking the sun from her face. Lauren cracked open one eye, eyeballing the interruption unhappily.

Daryl stared down at her emotionlessly. "Here." Lauren jerked as he tossed her missing switch blade onto her stomach. "You dropped it outside my tent."

Abruptly he turned away, clattering down the porch steps. Lauren stared after him incredulously.

"Hey!" she cried, racing to get to her feet, stumbling a bit. "Daryl, wait!"

She raced to catch up with him, and although he hadn't gone far, he had a faster stride then she did and he had a bit of a head start. She sprinted up to him, his face blank as he turned to look at her.

"I know we got off t'a rocky start, you and me, but…thanks. For bringin' my knife back.." She glanced down at the knife briefly and happened to glance out of her peripheral the red spot blooming on his abdomen.

"You're hurt!" Lauren gasped, grabbing Daryl's arm. She hauled him forcibly towards the house, plopping down on the porch despite his halfhearted struggles and protests.

"Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" she demanded, squinting at him suspiciously, half expecting the man to just shove her out of the way and stomp on his grumpy way.

Daryl stared at her as if she had grown two heads. He sat there with a strange look on his face, not moving.

Lauren sighed, tossing her arms up in the air for a moment before bending over and starting to unbutton Daryl's shirt.

From the way he sat there like a stunned mute, you'd think the guy had never been touched before.

Lauren's fingers flew down the center of the shirt, slipping the buttons out of their slots as fast as she could. While she was no medic, she understood that wounds needed tending to as soon possible. When she got the last button undone she quickly and carefully peeled she shirt away from his body. tore the shirt off his body. Looking at the wound, she noticed it was only a scratch but it was deep enough to still be bleeding.

She grabbed a cloth off the clothes line and dipped it into a basin of water on the deck. She gave Daryl's shoulder a light push, making him lay down on the porch deck. Daryl seemed too stunned by everything that was going on that he didn't resist. When she had Daryl lying down like she wanted, Lauren grabbed the cloth out of the water and rung it out.

She took the cool and now damp cloth and ran it lightly over Daryl's abdomen, cleaning the dirt and blood out of the cut.

"How'd ya do this anyways?" Lauren asked, lightly running the cloth over the area, making sure it was all decently cleaned. She lifted the rag off of him and rinsed the blood and dirt off the rag, dunking it in and out of the bucket of water.

"I dunno," he mumbled, looking away from Lauren, bringing his thumb up to his lips and biting it on the side."Probably scraped it on a tree 'er somethin'."

"You really have t'a be more careful. If you're not careful, you could get really hurt one of these days." Sshe opened the wrapper for one of the bandages she had tucked away in her pocket upon waking up this morning, on her and smoothed it out on his belly. Her fingers lingered on his skin. as she glanced up at him, and she didn't realize that she was staring up at him until their eyes met. Just realizing how her actions could have been seen, Lauren lookedlglanced up quickly to see Daryl staring back at her with icey blue eyes. Lauren felt drawn in, she had seen a lot of blue eyes before, but never any as captivating as his. With that thought, Lauren could feel the heat creeping up her neck into her cheeks and she looked away from his gaze. away quickly, her face heating up.

She gave the bandage a pat and stood up. "Well now that that's all taken care of, I best be running off." She took the stairs two at a time before she flew through the front door, letting the screen slam behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

As you'll be able to tell from this chapter, I'm not following the events of the show in order. I needed Shane and Rick outside of the camp for a reason, and used Randall for that reason. Sophia's search party gives me a way to play on drama. Enjoy.

Daryl slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. He reached around him and grabbed his shirt, throwing it around his shoulders before standing and buttoning it up. He looked back at the house with a confused frown before slowly making his way back to his tent with a slight shake of his head.

Rick gathered everyone around the truck and laid out the map of the area. Slowly, people started gathering around the map, waiting to discuss their search areas.

"Alright, today we'll all get new search areas, new grids, help make this organized. We'll find Sophia." Rick said. He started pointing out areas and assigning areas to people and teams giving them coloured ribbons to mark along the way.

"I'll take this ridge up here," Daryl pointed out, sliding his finger along a river bank on the map. "Take a horse and scout out the area, get a bird's eye view." He murmured.

Rick nodded his head, "Great idea."

Later in the day Lauren walked out of the farm house and noticed no one was around. Did they all leave when she dozed off? She looked around and caught sight of Carol hanging out more clothes on the clothes line, and she quickly jogged over.

"Hey Carol, where is everyone?" She gasped out, leaning over slightly resting her palms on her Capri covered knees.

Carol looked over her shoulder while pinning a pair of boxers to the line. "Oh," She gave a brief pause, pain flickering across her face. "They're out looking for my daughter, Sophia. Walkers chased her off into the forest." Her arms dropped down by her sides and she took a stuttering breath.

Lauren's face was solemn, she knew how it felt to have loved ones ripped away from you like that. "I know how you feel Carol. I won't say I'm sorry, 'cause the last thing ya need is more pity, but I do hope they find her." She placed a hand lightly on Carol's shoulder, and gave a light squeeze and a small smile. She slowly turned and walked away to see what else she could do while everyone was gone for a while.

"Walker!" Andrea called out from on top of the R.V. She grabbed her binoculars and pointed them towards where she seen the lone figure stumbling into the open field from the tree line.

"Just the one?" Rick asked as he grabbed his revolver, and started towards the tree line.

"I bet I can nail him from here!" Andrea called back, picking up the rifle and trying to get a good visual, but the sun was glaring into her scope.

"Andrea! Put the gun down. We'll handle this." Shane demanded, emerging from the small clump of trees that served as their makeshift camp.

As the others grabbed their weapons, the two started off towards the walker, knowing the others were very close behind. As they approached the figure they slowed down to a stop when the figure stopped moving. Rick pointed his gun towards the figures head, just in case.

"Is that Daryl?" Glenn asked in shock.

Everyone was silent, hoping that another member of their group hadn't been bitten.

"'Bout time you pointed that thing at my head." Daryl growled out. "You gonna pull the trigger 'er what?" Everyone lowered their weapons, instantly relieved. Rick looked away and breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly a shot rang out and Daryl flew back off his feet. He hit the ground with a grunt, sprawled out on his back.

"No! No, no!" Rick cried out, spinning and looking back at the R.V "NO!" He hit his knees beside Daryl, looking at the wound to see how bad it was, when Daryl suddenly moved his arm, reaching up and running his fingers over the cut on the side of his head. Shane grabbed his arm, pulling it away from the wound and then took the necklace of walker ears out of his mouth. Rick and Shane started heaving Daryl up on his feet and wrapped his arms around their shoulders.

"I was kiddin'" Daryl mumbled before passing out.

Rick and Shane started dragging him towards the house as Andrea and Dale came running.

"Oh my god, is he dead? Is he dead?" Andrea called out, racing towards them, panic set in her voice.

"Unconscious. You just grazed him." Rick grunted out, tugging Daryl's arm further onto his shoulder.

"What happened to him?" Glenn asked. "Look at him! He's wearing walker ears!" He called out pointing to the man's chest where the ears bounced with each step.

Rick reached over and snapped the necklace off the man's neck and balled it up before stuffing it in his own shirt. "Let's just keep that to ourselves."

"Hey guys? Isn't this Sophia's doll?" T-Dog asked, lifting the doll so everyone could see.

Lauren was out behind the house in the small pond, swimming when she heard the gun shot. She leaped out of the pool of water and grabbed her over shirt and raced towards the front of the house, not caring she was still in her undershorts.

When she turned the corner she saw Andrea sitting on the steps looking like she'd seen a ghost. "Andrea!" She panted out. "What happened?"

Andrea looked upsets and buried her face in her hands before Lauren felt her arm being lightly grasped and turned to see Dale holding her arm. Nodding his head to the side Lauren let herself be lead a few paces over.

"Daryl came out of the woods and Andrea mistook him for a walker. She grazed his head, but he should be alright. She's pretty upset about it." Dale finally looked down and Lauren, gave her a questioning look, and then shook his head. "If I was you, I'd go put some clothes on, just to be safe. Don't forget, there are young men in the area." Dale said with an small smile on his face, turning and starting over to Andrea.

Lauren looked down at what she was wearing and blushed. Her plaid shirt was barely buttoned, becoming wet with water where her bra was in contact with it, and her black undershorts were causing droplets of water to slide down her legs. She quickly glanced around to make sure no one had seen her, and took off back towards the pond to get her Capri's.

Shane looked out the window and watched the young woman run back around the house. Maybe he didn't need Lori and Carl.


	4. Chapter 4

As Lauren rounded the front of the house for the second time, this time fully dressed, she noticed Andrea was gone and that everyone else was back outside. She looked around and noticed that Rick and Shane were off doing whatever it is they do. 'He must be alright, then.' She thought to herself.

She walked towards the house and as she reached the stairs she felt the familiar tingle in her spin that someone was watching her. She looked around and not noticing anyone, she made her way into the house. She went into the kitchen to see Carol and Lori working with Beth and Rachael to make super. She knocked on the door frame of the kitchen and gave a light chuckle when some of the ladies jumped.

"Can I do anythin'?" She asked, leaning onto the frame and placing her arms behind her back.

Carol grabbed a glass of water off the counter and walked over to her. "Would you mind taking this upstairs to Daryl? He must be getting thirsty by now." She waited until Lauren grasped hold of the cup and gave a slight nod before she walked back into the kitchen.

"Anythin' else you ladies might need?" she asked, carefully pushing off the wall so she wouldn't upset the water. When all she received were heads shaking, she gave a light sigh and started towards the stairs. When she arrived at the bottom of the stairs she paused and gave them a look, and with a sigh she started her way to the second floor.

When she reached the second floor it took her a minute to remember which room was Hershel's and when she did she gave a light knock to the door. When there was no answer she opened the door slightly and seeing his back she crept in silently, trying not to wake him, when suddenly she turned his head and looked right at her, pulling the blanket up to his chin.

"Carol asked me to bring you this." Lauren spoke quietly. She tried not to let her shock at the scars on his back show on her face. "How're ya feelin'?"

Daryl rolled so he was facing the wall away from her, pulling the blanket higher up on his body. "Not 's good as I look." He mumbled.

Lauren gave a light chuckle and set the water down. She leaned on the doorframe and crossed her arms. "D'you need anythin'?" She asked with a small smile.

Daryl looked back over his shoulder and when he seen her smile rolled over onto his back as far as his wounds would let him. "I'm fine." He all but growled out, unsure of how to react to her sudden kindness. The girl confused him to say the least. One moment she acts like she wants to punch him the next she acts like this.

Lauren gave a nod and turned to go out the door. "By the way, I hope ya feel better soon." She grabbed the door knob and pulled the door closed behind her lightly. She stood outside the room, resting against the door and let her heart calm down. For some odd reason she felt inclined to get to know Daryl Dixon.

She walked down the stairs and back outside she hopped off the porch and started off towards the make shift camp ground. Suddenly Shane came jogging up beside her.

"Where you off to Lauren?" he questioned when he reached her.

She looked over at her sudden companion and shrugged her shoulders, "Just off to wander, maybe stop by the RV and talk to Andrea or Dale. Might talk to Rick for a while. Not much really, why?"

The smile she got from Shane was very unsettling, and it actually scared her to an extent. "No reason." He gruffed out, looking away from her and towards the campsite, his eyes instantly locking onto Lori and Carl.

Lauren chanced a quick glance over at him and noticed where his attention was directed, and while she was glad it wasn't directed at her, she felt bad that Lori had to suffer through it. When she was close enough to the camp she veered off towards the RV and poked her head inside and to her relief Dale sat in the booth reading a novel.

"Sorry to be a bother." She smiled, knocking on the door and giving the elderly man a smile.

Dale looked over the edge of his book and smiled back. Setting his book down on the small table he motioned to the seat across from him, "What's up Chicky?" He leaned forward slightly, crossing his arms under his chest.

Lauren took the offered seat and leaned back against it slightly and tilting her head back, he multi-toned brown hair sliding back off her forehead slightly. "Just wanted to pop in, say hello. Get rid of an unwanted puppy dog." She frowned then before slouching over onto the table.

"Puppy dog? Wouldn't happen to be Shane, would it?" Dale always seemed so smart, his thought logical and well thought out.

Lauren glanced up from underneath her bangs and gave a quick jerky nod. "It's not that I hate the guy, he just gives me the creeps, 's all. Like the way he looks at me or Lori for th' matter." She felt a small shutter work its way down her spin and through her whole body before she could stop it.

Dale gave her a small smile, a look of sympathy crossing his face. "Don't worry Chicky. Even if he did get any ideas, you got plenty 'a protection here with us." He reached forward and gave one of her hands a nudge, and gave her a reassuring grin.

Lauren nodded and looked around. She noticed a bunch of novels and activity books and she stood up and made her way to the bookshelf and started looking through titles. She gasped as she came across a title she hadn't seen in a while, a book she had read at least a year before the whole outbreak started. She grabbed the book and held it up showing the title to Dale, Blue is for Nightmares. "Dale, please tell me you have the other books to this series!" She walked up to him clutching the book to her chest and giving Dale her best puppy dog eyes.

"I believe I do, somewhere in here. My wife was a fan of the series and when she died I didn't have the heart to throw them out." He walked over towards a trunk under the bed in the master bedroom and pulled it out and opened the lid and inside there were a few articles of women's' clothes, some jewellery and there lying beside it all were the other books to the series. He checked all the titles before closing the trunk and sliding it back under the bed, hidden from sight. "Just as I thought, all there. You wanna borrow that one?" He raised his eyebrow and gave a smile at her overzealous nodding.

She was starting to get dizzy with all the nodding she was doing so she stopped. With a huge grin on her face she leaped at dale and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a squeeze. "Oh thank ya, thank ya, thank ya!" She cheered, hopping up and down a few times before clutching the book to her chest and grinning down to it.

Daryl hobbled down the stairs out into the sun and stopped as he reached the bottom. He looked around for everyone, the frown ever present on his face. When he noticed no one in the path of him and his tent, he slowly trudged off towards it, mindful of his injuries. When he was about half way to his tent his had to stop and catch his breath, as much as he didn't want to. He stood awkwardly in the middle of the field, trying not to haunch over and lean on his knees.

When Lauren exited the RV she noticed Daryl standing in the middle of the yard, doing absolutely nothing and she shook her head and frowned. 'Was sure he was s'posed to be on bed rest.' She thought to herself, starting towards him when she realized he hadn't noticed her.

Suddenly he started walking again but at a slower pace and she noticed how he favoured his left side by leaning to the right. When she was barely even 25 yards from him, she watched as he started to sway, and that was all it took for her to start running. He lost his fight with his conscious and gravity the moment she caught up to him. She looked down at his face, realizing he'd passed out before she looked further to check his bandages. She realized they hadn't turned red, which meant there was not bleeding. She started hefting his arm over her shoulders, tugging his right hand with hers, trying to take most of his weight, which when you thought about it, wasn't all that much due to malnutrition.

She started dragging him towards his tent, knowing that'd be where he'd be most comfortable. When she reached out with her left hand to grasp the zipper of the tent she had to lean to her left to accommodate his weight.

When she got the tent flap open she let Daryl carefully fall off her shoulder and proceeded to drag him backwards into the tent. When she finally got him inside and onto his makeshift bed of a sleeping bag and a rolled up blanket, she stopped to catch her breath. She opened her eyes and she took in her surroundings. There were clothes strung around the tent in random clumps and there was a stack of half finished arrows in the corner. She squatted down and started undoing the half tied laces to his boots. When she was done she carefully let his leg drop back onto the bed.

She walked over and started collecting the worst of the clothing he had strung around and gathered them into her arms. Sending a quick glance over her shoulder to Daryl she zipped the tent back up and made her way to the porch were her laundry bucket still was.

A few hours later Daryl stirred from his sleep and glanced around him, unaware of his location. He didn't remember making it into his tent, or taking his boots off. He looked around a was surprised to see most of his clothes gone, only a few decently clean outfits left laying on the floor. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, careful not to jar his wounds. He reached over to his left and grabbed an arrow and carefully flopped back onto his back. He gave a hiss and regretted going down that rough when his side pulsed in pain.

He took the arrow and carefully rolled onto his side and looked out the screen window in the tent. He lifted his arm half way and started applying pressure to the mesh with the tip of the arrow and let the arrow head poke through, creating a 1mm hole and pulling it back out.

He repeated that for a while, his thoughts drifting as he laid there, bored out of his mind.

An hour or so later he was startled when his tent was unzipped. He rolled over towards his back, still holding onto the arrow that was poking out the mesh in his tent. He watched the zipper move its way around the door frame and clutched the arrow a bit firmer when a hand reached in to pull the door flap open.

Lauren bent down as she made her way through the opening in his tent. Almost dropping the basket of fresh laundry in her surprise, she was shocked to see Daryl staring right at her, clutching an arrow. She stopped and stared at him, unsure if she should explain herself or not when she noticed all the holes in the tent beside him.

She let out a small chuckle as she moved towards the back corner. With her back slightly to him, she squatted down and started taking his clothes out of the basket and setting them on top of a crate in the corner. "Get bored, did'ya?" she asked, raising her brows and jerking her head towards the holes.


	5. Chapter 5

Daryl glanced at her, then at the arrow holes, and realized he couldn't even lie and say they were already there. He glanced back at her and mumbled, "I was bored." Lauren laughed, and finished laying his clothes down on the crate, then she turned to face him and sat down on the floor beside the bed.

"How you feeling?" She asked laying her hand on his forehead. He turned his head away from her hand and tsked, "I'm fine," he barked out.

Her hand snapped out and rested on his forehead again. She left it there for a moment before she pulled it back with sigh. "Ya got a touch ov'a fever," she sat back on the floor, leaning back and grabbing a rag cloth she had sitting in the clothes basket she had brought with her. She slung it over her shoulder and crawled over to the door of the tent.

He watched her the moment her hand left his forehead. He watched her when she leaned back to grab the cloth that had fallen off her shoulder, the muscles in her arm straining and her shirt riding up to expose a small sliver of her midsection. He was so wrapped up in watching her he didn't even acknowledge her previous statement.

She leaned back out of the opening in the tent and grabbed her bottle of water. Cracking it open she poured a little into her mouth, letting it cool her throat, before grabbing the rag and letting the water seep into that and letting it soak up.

She turned and crawled back inside the tent and zipped the door back up. She knelt beside Daryl's make shift bed and lightly placed the clothe on his head. She whipped it back and forth a few times, collecting the beads of sweat off his forehead and pushing his hair back away from his eyes. She flipped the cloth over and laid the moist colder side back down on his head. "Feel better?" She asked looking down at him.

Daryl gave a low hum, his eyes starting to flutter. His body was slowly relaxing with the slow cloth on his forehead, the adrenaline from earlier and the blood loss finally taking their toll. She smiled softly when she noticed him fighting sleep for the second time underneath the cool cloth resting on his forehead.

Shane stood by the porch on surveillance, watching over the group and making sure they wouldn't be surprised by any walkers on the land when he noticed movement coming from Daryl's tent. He grabbed is binoculars and raised them up to his face and pointed them towards Daryl's camp site. With the way the ten was facing he could only see the door flap being moved and a small hand come out and grab a water bottle. The bottle retreated half way up and in the tent before coming back out and pouring some water on a cloth.

Shane's fists clenched around the binoculars. He knew who's hand that was, and there was no mistake that she was either waiting for Daryl or she was cleaning both of them off. Shane knew exactly how to find out what she was doing too.

He jumped up the stairs two at a time and almost ripped the door off its hinges getting into the house. He darted up the stairs inside and when he reached the landing he slowed his pace to a brisk walk not to alarm anyone who was upstairs. He approached the room Daryl was supposed to be in and opened the door. He cautiously peered inside and cursed softly before pulling the door closed.

Lauren sat by his side, rinses the cloth of the sweat build up every once and a while. She sat there and watched over him while he slept.

She carefully climbed out of his tent, making sure not to wake him, before turning around and zipping it closed. She picked up her empty forgotten laundry basket and started back towards the house. She had to let Hershel know that Daryl had snuck out back to his tent earlier and had a touch of a fever. On her way back to the house, she made a swing by the spare tent Rick had given her, and picked up her small hunters knife that she had had tucked away in her boot when she arrived. When she finished with her stop at her makeshift home, she clipped her knife onto her belt and carried on.

She climbed the stairs into the house and walked in. She set her laundry basket down and walked towards the kitchen to see if she could find Hershel.

"Hershel, are y'a in here?" She called out walking around the corner, she jumped when instead of Hershel, Shane stepped around the corner. "Oh, hey Shane," she murmured awkwardly trying to side step him.

"Hey Lauren, where have you been?" Shane asked, stepping in front of her and walking towards her forcing her to back up towards the wall. Lauren felt her back connect with the wall and she swallowed, hard.

"N-no where's really, here and there, y'know." She let her eyes drift, desperately looking for another exit route to get away from the situation. She felt his hand rest on her shoulder and start drifting down towards her hand.

"Y'know, I'm always here if you want to have a little, fun," he purred, grabbing her hand with a leer on his face.

Lauren felt a shiver of discuss run down her spin when he spoke to her, "Thanks for the offer Shane," she spoke slowly, "but no thanks, I'm not interested." She had just finished her sentence when Lori walked around the corner. A look of fear and fury crossed her face before settling on indifference.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I hope I didn't interrupt something important." The accusation was clear in her tone, and her pointed look at Shane's hand that was still holding her wrist confirmed her suspicions.

Lauren felt as if she would puke. "N-no! Shane was just warnin' me, about bein' careful, ya know 'round the horses." She ripped her hand out of his tightening grasp and looked away from both of them. "Thanks fer the advice, Offica Walsh." She quickly darted past him and Lori and sprinted towards the door when she slammed into Hershel.

"Lord child! Are y'alright? Yer paler then a ghost!" He grabbed her lightly by the upper arms to steady her and spoke to her in a soft calm voice so her wouldn't spook her anymore then what she already appeared to be, by the paleness of her face.

"I-I'm fine Hershel. I jus' wanted to let ya know that Daryl has a feva' and he's out in his tent." She stammered out before rushing back out the door. Hershel watched her go with a concerned frown on his face as she scrambled back towards Daryl's tent.

Later in the evening Lauren sat around the fire that was smoldering away, waiting for one of the canned soups she had had in her old backpack to heat up. Daryl had been asleep all afternoon, but thankfully his fever had broke, and he was sure to be hungry when he awoke. She carefully grabbed the can and poured the warm soup into a bowl. Grabbing the bowl she walked back over to his tent and crawled inside.

She sat the bowl down on one of the crates he had in his tent and slid over beside him carefully. She laid her hand on his shoulder and gave him a light shake, "Daryl, time t'a git up." She called softly, "Daryl."

Daryl stirred lightly, his head shifting side to side trying to find the voice cutting through the fog of his sleeping mind. His eyes fluttered as the voice called for him again, and carefully he cracked his eyes open and saw Lauren leaning over him with a soft smile.

"Mornin' sleepin' beauty," She said lightly. "Bout time you got up, I brought ya some soup." She watched as Daryl tried to push himself up into a sitting position, but was having troubles holding himself up and trying to favour his right side. Lauren quickly took to looking around the room and noticed a spare sleeping bag. She leaned over and grabbed it and balled it up to shove behind him

"There, much better. Lemme help ya." She reached behind her and grabbed the bowl of warm soup and brought it closer to Daryl.

"Don't need no goddamn help." He barked out and tried to reach for the bowl but froze and had to hold back a cry when his side was jarred from the quick movement.

""Don't need no help" Huh?" She asked with smirk on her face. "Your side begs tuh differ." She brought the bowl closer to here and grabbed the spoon, "Here."

She brought the spoon full of soup to him and waited for him to open his mouth. When he didn't budge she growled at him, "Daryl, yer hurt and ya need to stop being so damned stubborn and open yer mouth." She waited for him to take the bait and when he opened his mouth to respond to her she jerked forward and slid the spoon into his mouth.

His lips closed and his teeth chomped down immediately, stopping the spoon from going down his throat, the last thing he wanted was to gag on a spoon.

She laughed then, he looked like a kicked puppy dog. "There, now, was that so hard?" She gave the spoon a light tug to get him to release it. When he let the silverware slide out of his mouth she stuck it back in the bowl of soup before bringing it back up to him.

"Dammit woman! I can feed my-" Lauren quickly cut him off with another spoon full of soup.

"Daryl, stop lettin' yer pride get in the way and just eat the damned soup, would ya?" She sat there in front of him with a less than impressed facial expression, and quickly dug the spoon back in the bowl, scooping out some of the food and holding it up to him. "Now, we go'n have to do this the hard way, or are you gonna stop being such a big baby about this?"

She faltered under his glare but then strengthened her resolve. He was injured and needed to eat, and she was not going to let him further injure himself in the process. She watched as he crossed his arms but his glare weakened. She brought the spoon to his lips and watched with baited breath to see of he would actually open them. And he did. She tipped the spoon carefully letting the broth run into his mouth and trickle down his throat. This time she picked up some of the noodles and a small piece of chicken in the spoon to bring to his lips a small smile on her face.


	6. Chapter 6

Lauren gathered the bowl in her hand and quietly exited the tent. Daryl had fallen asleep soon after finishing the soup, and she wanted to let him rest. She slipped out the open flap of the tent, careful not to disturb him. She turned and zipped the flap closed again before walking back towards the house. She had borrowed one of Hershel's bowls and needed to bring it back to him.

As she started back towards the house, she noticed Shane walking towards the little make shift camp their group had set up. Her heart racing, she deviated from her current path and slowed down, hoping he'd get to the camp before she had to cross paths with him. She paused when he looked up and caught sight of her and smirked. She quickly pushed down the nauseous feeling trying to come up and continued onto the house. Opening up the screen door, she went straight to the sink in the kitchen, to place the bowl into the sink to soak.

"Afternoon, Ms. Patricia," she nodded, placing the bowl into the sink, pouring water from her bottle into the bowl.

"Oh, there's no need to do that, we have runnin' water here," she spoke, nodding to the bowl. "And please, just call me Patricia."

Lauren nodded, and capped her bottle. "Thank you for letting me borrow the bowl, Patricia," Lauren gave a slight tip of her head and a small smile. She grabbed her bottle again and pushed off the counter she had been leaning on and started back towards the door when Patricia called out to her.

"Lauren, be careful, alright?" She called, ringing her hands together, her brows pinched.

Lauren nodded slowly and studied the way Patricia was behaving before turning and walking out of the house. People were confusing.

Lauren was sitting in her tent, reading the books Dale had lent her a few days ago. She had already finished the first three and was currently on the fourth book, "Red is for Remembrance." And try as she might, she couldn't seem to focus on the words on the page. She grabbed her bag with a sigh, putting the book inside in frustration. From the front pocket of the bag she grabbed the small utility knife she had, and stepped out of her tent.

After standing in the sun for a moment and letting her eyes adjust to the brightness, Lauren walked towards the large maple tree that shaded their small camp. From around the base of the tree, she collected many of the small long twigs, placing them in a pile under the shade. Sitting herself underneath the tree, she grabbed one of the little sticks and trailed her fingers over it softly. She flipped open her knife, and began taking off all the small bumps and sticks from the bigger branches. It wasn't much, and she didn't even know if they would work properly, but it was all she could do for Daryl, considering his weapon could run out of ammo at any given moment, and she was trying to get on friendly terms with him. She slowly let the knife dig into the soft wood of the branch and let it slip up towards the tip of the branch. She'd work on getting the shaft as straight as she could before working on the tip and where the feathers would go.

Time passed slowly, the sun getting higher in the sky and the Georgian summer getting warmer. Lauren was down to shaping her last branch when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. She lifted her head slightly, enough that she could see what caused the movement. She shook her head lightly as she saw Daryl attempt to make his way out of his tent. Not quite as subtle as she imagined he was hoping for.

Lauren closed her knife and let the sticks roll to her side as she quickly sprung to her feet and started walking towards the tent. As she rounded the tree, a hand snapped out and grabbed her wrist. Gasping from shock, Lauren tried to jerk her hand from the grasp. When Lauren realized that it was Shane - and not a walker - that had grabbed her, she doubled her effort. She could quickly feel the panic rising in her chest, making her lungs tight and her heart beat escalate. She stopped to catch a breath, "Shane, let go," she murmured. She could feel the bile rising in the back of her throat.

"Nah, I don't think I wanna do that," Shane said, letting a cocky smirk plant itself on his features. He let his eyes rove over her chest and down her legs.

Lauren resumed her struggling, jerking about widely trying to break the hold on her arm. "Shane, let me go!" She cried out, feeling tears well in her eyes as she felt the pressure on her arm increase. "Shane, please, let me go." Lauren hated herself - and him - at this moment, reduced to a whimpering, begging mess. She was still lightly tugging at her arm when she saw a dirt covered hand reach out and wrap itself around Shane's wrist.

"She said let her go." Daryl growled out lightly from behind her right shoulder. Lauren saw the muscles in his forearm contract as he squeezed down on Shane's wrist. Shane grunted, trying not to let the pain show on his face.

After a few minutes Lauren felt the grip on her arm ease up slightly and gave a harsh tug. Her arm slipped from Shane's grasp, making her stumble back towards Daryl clutching her arm close to her body. She felt more than she saw Daryl slip from behind her to stand between her and Shane, staring him down. After a tense moment, she saw Shane turn around and start walking away and Daryl turn to face her.

"Y'alright?" Lauren heard Daryl mumble. She felt heat creep up her face and bowed her head. She was sick of feeling weak and always having people have to rescue her. She pushed those emotions down enough to give him a tight lip smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." She murmured. She went to step around him to go back around the tree, there was no way she could face him like this. Lauren jolted to a stop as Daryl stepped in front of her and reached out this hand. She felt him take hold of her arm gently and turn it over in his grasp.

"Might bruise later on," she heard him mumble. Lauren looked down at her arm and saw the angry red marks left by Shane's rough hold and gently shook her head, there was nothing she could do about them now except wear long sleeved shirts.

"Thank you Daryl," Lauren murmured. She gently slid her arm out of his grasp and turned back towards the tree. She was going to collect her make shift arrows and head into her tent to continue them. She heard Daryl move around the tree to stand beside her as she crouched down to grab the sticks. She had to make a stop by the chicken coup on her way to her tent to get some feathers. As she stood up, her arms full of the make shift bolt shafts she heard Daryl clear his throat.

"What'cha makin'?" Daryl asked, chewing on his thumb nail, brows down in his usual frown. Lauren didn't blame him, it was hot out.

"Oh, uhm, nothing really," Lauren mumbled, glancing down at the bundle under her arm. She absentmindedly started picking at one of the straightened pieces of wood, twirling it between her index finger and thumb. "I was just thinking," Lauren paused to clear her throat, letting her nerves settle enough to speak confidently. "Your bow, you only seem to have a few bolts left, so since I really didn't have nothin' to do, I figured I'd try and make you a few." She held out her hand, the straightened piece of maple laying horizontal across her palm. "I don't know if they'll actually work, but I figured it was the least I could do." She raised her head, glancing at the bolt before looking back up at Daryl.

It seemed like it took forever for him to reach out and grab the long twig, turning it over in his hands, holding it in front of his face and looking down the length of it to see how straight it was. "Yeah, 's not bad. I guess." he grumbled. Lauren smiled, while it wasn't exactly what she was looking for it was a start on the right path towards a friendship with the man.

Lauren stood back at the entrance to the barn, leaning on the door frame, as she watched Maggie mount the Missouri Fox Trotter. When she was sure Maggie had properly mounted, she slowly approached the horse from the front, making sure not to spook the creature.

"Hey Maggie?" She asked, running her hand up and down the horse's nose, "Think you could use a hand on the run? Was kinda hoping to look for a few things myself." She asked, looking up at the young woman.

Maggie squinted, looking down at her with a questioning look. "You tell the rest of your group you were gonna tag along with me?" She asked as she dismounted her horse. She walked towards another one of the stables, waiting for the answer. When she got none, she looked over her shoulder to see Lauren running her hand up and down the muzzle, leaning her forehead against the horses jaw gently. "That's Mandy." Maggie called over her shoulder, unlatching the stable door to grab the reins of the silver dapple Rocky. "Had her since I was 14."

Lauren lifted her head. "She's beautiful." Her eyes softened as she glanced to Maggie and back to the horse. "And no, I didn't really bother telling anyone. I don't really think anyone's looking to make nice with me anyways." She slowly let her hand trail down the horses muzzle, stepping back and letting Maggie bring the other horse forward.

Maggie brought the horse forward, "Yeah I guess I get that." She grabbed one of the saddles on the wall, swinging it up onto the horse's back. "This here is Rich. He's one of the older horses we have here, but he's more than able to out run anything we come across." She watched as Lauren stepped up to the horse, holding her hand out flat to the horse's nose, letting the horse know she was there before reaching up and petting him the same way she did Mandy. "You seem to have quite the experience with horses. Have your own back home?" she asked, synching the saddle tight. She stepped back towards her own horse as Lauren walked around to the side of Rich.

"I used too." She said, letting Maggie lead both horses out of the barn. "My Paw used to own a ranch down in New Orleans when he was still alive. I used to spend the summer there. Got to know how to handle horses real well." She glanced over at Maggie and gave her a small grin. "Paw died when I was 18. Haven't been on a horse since, but it's nice to be back in the saddle."

The next half an hour was spent in silence, the only noise being the horses' hooves clicking on the asphalt. Pulling up to the edge of town, Lauren looked over at Maggie, inching Rich closer to Mandy. "You don't happen to have a map of town do ya?" She asked, glancing around them and peering down the road.

Maggie nodded once, reaching into the saddle bag attached to Mandy's left side, pulling out a small booklet with a map inside. Lauren flipped open the book and studied the map. "So from what I'm looking at, we should probably go around the town to the far side first. It has less of the stores we need to hit, but that way should we come across walkers, we won't have to worry about doubling back through a crowd." she said, passing the map back over to Maggie.

Lauren settled deep in her saddle, reaching forward to grab the fallen reins, ready to start on the way around the town. "It'll take a bit longer, but it should be safer in the long run, won't have to do any doubling back." She said, nodding her head with a smile over at Maggie. Maggie nodded and they started off again. It took them a good twenty minutes to get to the other side of the town market, making it so they had a clear view down the road back towards the farm.

Lauren hopped down off the bigger horse, un-strapping the metal pipe attached to the horse's saddle. She had found it and picked it up along one of the roads into town. It looked like one of the old pry bars her father used to use to attach their old trailer to the hitch of the truck. Lauren swung one of the shoulder straps of her backpack up and over her shoulder, letting the rest of the back hang for easy access.

Lauren glanced over at Maggie and gave a questioning nod towards town. Maggie grabbed her bag and nodded back. "Will the horses run off on us, or should we tie them down?" Lauren asked, rubbing her hand over the Rocky's front shoulder. Maggie reached over and grabbed Mandy's reins, "They shouldn't," she started walking towards the store front, gently leading the horse along. "We'll just leave them at the front of each store, so we don't have to run back for 'em." The two girls stood in front of the pharmacy side by side. Maggie looked over at Lauren and took a deep breath. "Ready?" She asked, and Lauren tightened her grip on both her bag and poll.

"Now or never."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so, this is a lot longer than I can usually put out. Uh, it also took a little bit more time than I was expecting. But hopefully you guys enjoy it :) Also thanks for all the kudos I've been receiving! :) Story is not beta'd in any way asides from me attempting to proof read it a few times before I publish.

Reaching into her pocket, Maggie brought out the list of supplies her father had given to her for them to find. She handed the list over to Lauren for her to read as she reached forward to carefully pull the pharmacy door open. Both girls flinched back at the putrid smell that slammed into them. Maggie shook her head and pushed forward, swinging the door open wide.

Both of the girls walked into the store, weapons raised. They paused, waiting to see if they could hear any noise of approaching walkers or people. When the coast was clear, they crept forward eyes roaming over the mostly barren racks. Lauren looked over at Maggie, "I'll take the right side, you take the left?" she asked, pointing to the side closest to the register. Maggie nodded and started off to the left side of the store,  reading the labels of each bottle, grabbing what she needed.

Lauren walked up and down the aisles looking for anything of interest. She had already managed to grab a few rolls of gauze,  a bottle of naproxen, and a small pack of band-aids. She walked down one of the aisles, back towards the door, when she noticed a red bag tucked underneath the back of the front desk. She walked over behind the desk, squatting down and pulling the bag out from under the desk, she carefully started opening the bag.

Before she could get it open, she heard the tell-tale sound of a walker, and Maggie let out a small yell. Before she could even get back on her feet and head towards the sound, Maggie came around the corner, legs splattered in blood. Noticing the look on her face, Maggie spoke. "Walker was caught on a broken shelf. Managed to grab my ankle as a I tried to walk past. Took care of it."

Lauren nodded and gestured for Maggie to join her around the desk. "You'll never believe what I just found." As they both kneeled down, Lauren opened the top of the bag, revealing the EMT first aid kit. "This is amazing! I can't believe no one's found this yet!" Maggie exclaimed. She grabbed the handle, heaving it up on her shoulder. "I think this should do us for this store. I've got all the things on Dad's list, and this is more than we ever hoped to find." She stood up to her full height, swinging her bag up onto her other shoulder, and offering her hand to Lauren.  Lauren grabbed her hand and let Maggie help pull her to her feet. She readjusted her backpack higher up onto her shoulder, and nodded to Maggie.  Exiting the store, Maggie walked over to the horses and grabbed the reins, "We might as well bring them to the next building and tie them there, in case we end up getting cut off." Lauren nodded and grabbed Rich's reins, leading him forward toward the next building.

Stopping outside the store, Lauren studied the sign. "What is this?" She asked, looking over at Maggie. Maggie gave a half shrug, she was in the process of hiding the first aid kit in Mandy's saddle bag. "It's like a dinner slash grocery slash convenience slash department store. Kind of has a little bit of everything."  She tightened the strap on the bag, sealing it shut. "Ready?" She asked turning towards Lauren who stood at the door. "Whenever you are," Lauren replied. Walking into the store Lauren's gaze immediately settled on the family of four sitting at one of the dinner tables. She felt a tightness in her chest but quickly shook it off. "What should we go for first? Food?" She asked, trying to distract herself and focus on something else.

Maggie glanced around, examining the store. "Not food, food is at the front. We should start at the back where there's clothes and things. Maybe grab some heavy clothes for once winter sets in." Lauren nodded. Together they started the walk to the back of the store.

Wandering around inside the back of the store, Lauren and Maggie managed to find some large sweaters for both the men and women, some socks of varying sizes, and more blankets for everyone.  Walking back towards the front of the store, to an area Lauren noticed had things from electronics to hair accessories, she had to pause. Sitting on the top of a bin full of children's bouncy balls was a thick woolen poncho. Lauren stopped, feeling the material before she grabbed it and shoved it into her bag.

After spending fifteen minutes wandering through the department store, picking up a variety of things, from batteries, an old style Discman - with an eclectic mix of CD's, to tooth brushes, and soaps, the girls stopped, sitting on floor. Lauren pulled out two protein bars from one of the smaller pockets in her pack, offering one to Maggie. "I've had this since I was on my own," she said with a bitter smile. "They were my last two." Maggie smiled, and took one of the bars before digging in. "I'm glad they found you when they did then." Lauren smiled, eating her own. "Me too." She finished her bar in one big bite, shoving herself to her feet. "We should get goin'. I shaw a huntin' shtore next door." she said, talking around the bar in her mouth.

They managed to leave the store within another 20 minutes, Maggie's pack almost over flowing with canned and packaged goods. The pulled their horses to the entrance of the outdoorsman shop. "We probably shouldn't spend too long in here," Maggie mentioned, while filling her bag. She looked over to the sun that was starting to get low in the sky. "It's probably around 5 right now, and I don't want anyone to come out looking for us."

Lauren nodded. "That's true. I'm not expecting to find too much in here anyways, most of the stores like this I came across on my own were empty." Pulling open the doors, the girls stepped inside.

Coming from a small hatch in the floor located near the cash register, the girls could hear the faint growling of a walker. Deciding on exploring the basement after they scoured the rest of the store, the girls split up, agreeing on meeting back at the hatch in 10 minutes, gathering what resources they could find.

Ten minutes later, they met up again at the register. Between the two of them they had found two rifles, two handguns, 4 boxes of rifle ammo, one and a half boxes of handgun ammo, and a compact shovel. Grabbing the metal pipe she'd been carrying all afternoon, Lauren reached down and grabbed the handle for the hatch. "You ready?" She asked, holding the pole up in a striking position. With a sigh, Maggie grabbed her machete. "Better now than never," she said.

Lauren pulled open the hatch, exposing the staircase style ladder. Within moments, there was a walker crowding against the stairs, his arms stretched above him, reaching towards the girls. Maggie shuttered, and glanced over at Lauren, before starting to climb down the ladder. When she was close enough, she extended her leg, placing it against the walkers face, and giving him a swift push, knocking him to the ground.

Maggie dropped down into the cellar, walking over to the fallen walker. She placed her foot onto the walkers chest, holding her machete directly above the walkers head, pushing it down quickly and efficiently. When the growling stopped, Lauren dropped down into the pit with Maggie, noticing the woman standing there staring at the re-animated man lying before her.

"This was Mr. Grumly. One of the nicest men in town. Used to give all us kids candy when we came in with Dad." Maggie took a deep breath, stepping back. "Let's see what he had hidden down here."

She reached up towards the ceiling, walking towards the wall and moving her arm around. She made a sound of joy, turning her hand slightly to the right. A moment later the room was illuminated by a dim glow from the oil lamp sitting on the wall. Immediately the girls took notice of the two boxes of army rations,  the random boxes of firearm ammunition, and the large fireman's axe.

Lauren gave a slight squeal, rushing over to the axe. She bent down, examining the fibreglass handle and the pointed tip of the axe head. She picked it up bouncing one end in the hand, testing the weight.

Maggie looked over at her and let out a laugh, "You look like a kid in a candy store with that thing in your hand!" She shook her head, gathering what she could into her own bag, before grabbing Lauren's and stuffing hers full.

Lauren chuckled, slowly lowering the head to the floor. She rubbed the side of her arm before swinging the axe back up into her hands. "Haven't seen an axe like this since before I left home. I was in training to be a firefighter, like my Dad." Lauren smiled down at the axe in her hand before looking around. "We should probably head out now, shouldn't we?" She asked, looking down at their full packs. Maggie laughed hefting hers up on to her back. "Definitely, I don't think we could carry more if we wanted to anyways."

As they climbed up the ladder, Mandy let out a sharp whiny, spurring the girls into action, running out of the shop, their haul in their hands. Lauren burst out of the door, looking towards the horses before looking up and down the road. Up the road, stumbling around the corner of the pharmacy was a small herd of walkers. Throwing what they could into the horses saddle bags, and then throwing the rest in their bags and onto their shoulders, the girls untied the reins and mounted quickly. By the time they managed to get settled in, the walkers were just reaching the side of the store. Spurring the horses on, the girls raced away back to the farm.

* * *

 

 

By the time the girls got back to the farm, the sun was just touching the top of the tress, the sky closest to it dimming to a bright orange. Lauren had gathered her bag full of supplies, and the large EMT kit after they put the horses away, and went off to talk to her father and to show him what they'd gotten. Watching her walk away, Lauren stood in the barn, rubbing Rich's muzzle.

Starting out of the barn, towards the big maple tree that she'd been sitting under earlier that day, Lauren was caught off guard when she heard shouting from the group's camp site. Turning on her heel she took off in a run towards the sound, her backpack and axe bouncing heavily against her back.

By the time she got to the camp site, Rick was behind Daryl, holding the man under his arms, as he tried to lash out at Shane. Meanwhile, Shane was restrained by T-Dog, a haughty smirk on his face. Hearing the pounding of feet approaching her from behind, Lauren glanced over her shoulder to see Maggie and her father, Hershel, making their way over to the commotion. Turning her attention back to the fight, Lauren made her way around the men, settling herself side by side with Glenn.

Grabbing him lightly by the arm, Lauren leaned closer to not attract everyone's attention. "What's going on, man?" she whispered watching Daryl try to lash out at Shane one more time before giving up and jerking himself out of Rick's hold and storming off.

"Shane… Shane was making some seriously inappropriate comments about the girls," he paused glancing at Lauren. "He threw out some pretty nasty ones about you, and Daryl snapped at him. Well, that just spurred Shane on, and so Daryl tried to punch him. That’s when Rick saw and ran over to stop it." he explained before stepping back. "It was messed up," he stopped to watch Shane walk away, keeping his eyes on him the whole time. "You should watch yourself around him. I don't really trust him." Glenn reached out, laying his hand on Lauren's shoulder before drawing into himself and walking away. Lauren stood there, her eyebrows pinched and a worried expression on her face.

* * *

 

The rest of the day came and went, the group expressing their joy at the amount of supplies Lauren and Maggie had managed to bring back to the farm. Lauren found herself walking through the fields later that night, her backpack thrown over her shoulder, the axe handle stuck through one of the pockets on the front.

Strolling through the fields, Lauren found herself drifting towards Daryl's camp, lost in thought. Coming to a stop where Daryl's tent used to be, she shook her head to snap herself back into focus, looking around to make sure she was in the correct area, and hadn't veered off her path while lost in thought. Lauren looked around, realizing that yes, she was in the right area, but that Daryl's camp site was no longer where it had been earlier that day. While looking around her, Lauren caught a glimpse of a small campfire out of her peripheral. Frowning, Lauren started towards the new campsite.

Lauren approached the campsite slowly. Seeing Daryl leaning on the tree, Lauren gave a small smile. "Knock, knock," She called, leaning against and around the tree and peering down over Daryl's shoulder.

"What're you doin' here?" Daryl grunted, biting the side of his thumb, staring at the burning coals.

Lauren slowly walked around the side of the tree, taking a seat beside Daryl on the log. "I heard what you did for me today," she gently nudged her shoulder against his. "Needed to come down at some point to thank you." Lauren reached up, grabbing her pack strap from her shoulder and tugging it to sit in front of her between her knees.

Lauren unzipped the bag, grabbing the bottom and dumping the contents on the ground, "I found something I think you might like today." She said, routing through the items before finding the small handgun and the accompanying box of ammunition. She picked them up gently, before passing them over to Daryl.  "I didn't know if you had one or not, but since we found two, I figured you could use it."

Lauren busied herself, looking back through the pile of supplies, before grabbing the big, bright orange hoodie she had snagged for herself and tugging it over her head. When she finally managed to fit the sweater over her head, she noticed Daryl giving her an incredulous look, she gave an embarrassed smile, shrugging her shoulders. "What, it's warm."

Daryl raised an eyebrow, "it's fuckin' hunter's orange." He turned back, staring at his fire. Daryl startled when he felt a bundle of fabric hit him in the side of the head, "The hell?!" He glared over at Lauren, reaching down and grabbing the bundle off his lap. He gave her a look, eyebrow raised.

"I noticed you didn't take a sweater or anything earlier. Figured you might like this instead." She gestured to the fabric.

Daryl grabbed the fabric, lifting it up and spreading his arms out "The fuck is it? A throw rug?" He glared over at Lauren, flipping the fabric around trying to figure out what it was.

He stopped when he heard Lauren burst out laughing. "No Daryl," she said, reaching over and grabbing the fabric from his hands. She turned it a few times, holding it right side up before passing it back. "It's a poncho," she said gently. "'S got no sleeves, but it should keep you warm when you need it." Daryl grunted, taking back the poncho and slipping it over his head. Once the poncho settled, he glanced back over at Lauren and nodded his head with a grunt.

Lauren leaned over, righting her backpack, before reaching down and starting to gather her supplies back into her bag when Daryl leaned forward and grabbed a box of ammo. "This one'll work in this gun too." He said showing the box he had taken. The next five minutes were spent with Daryl explaining the different types of ammunition, and what types of guns they could pair with.

"What about that thing, why'd you pick it up?" Daryl asked, jerking his head towards the axe sitting on the ground beside Lauren.

She smiled down at the axe, picking it up and laying it on her lap gently. "My dad was a firefighter when I was younger, and our house was constantly filled with memorabilia. He used to collect little trinkets and things, anything that had anything to do with being a firefighter." She caressed the side of the blade gently, "I followed him 'round like a lost pup all the time," she let out a chuckle, a small grin on her face, shaking her head lightly. "And I guess it's safe to say I took after him. Joined the department as soon as I was outta high school." She let the smile fall, "I was the last rook to ever join the force before this disaster started."

Lauren dropped down off the log she was sitting on with a sigh. She sat on the ground for a moment before leaning back against the log and drawing her knees up close to her chest. "I used to participate in these silly lumberjack competitions growing up, just to make him proud. I've been the state champion in Montgomery for the last couple years." She wrapped her arms around her knees loosely, "I did all I could to make him proud. Dad and I, we were two peas in a pod, got along better than butter an' toast." She shook her head with a huff before looking up over her shoulder at Daryl, "Anyways enough of that, will you teach me about your crossbow? No one I ever knew had one."

Daryl started, looking down at her in bewilderment. "What the hell kinda hunters you got there, no bows," he said, shaking his head and pulling the weapon on to his lap. He started, although with hesitation, to explain to her the different parts and mechanics to the weapon, telling her the difference between a bolt and a traditional arrow.

Lauren can remember listening intently, nodding along to his explanation. Watching the way his hands held the bow, turning it over, moving with a type of grace that she didn't expect the rugged man to have.

Daryl was in the middle of explaining the types of cords that are most commonly used and what the benefits were to each when he felt a weight suddenly land on the top of his knee. His head jerked down, his eyes drawn to the top of Lauren's head, the bright orange hood of her sweater falling back off the top of her head.

He frowned, nudging her shoulder with his leg, hoping to rouse her. He was less than pleased when all it did was cause her to lean further into his legs. He placed his crossbow down gently on the ground, turning it to lean against the end of the log so he could grab it later. He placed his hand onto Lauren's shoulder, giving it a light shake. When it didn't manage to wake her, he gave her a harder shake, calling her name, with no results.

"Damn girl could sleep through a walker attack," he mumbled under his breath as he dropped down beside her on one knee. He nudged her one last time, hoping since he had moved she'd wake. Unfortunately she stayed fast asleep. He bent down lower to the ground, slipping his good arm around her shoulders, wrapping the other around the back of her knees. He slowly pushed himself back, rising to his feet gently, wincing at the pain in his side. He moved quickly towards his tent, kicking open the flap and bending low to walk in.

After placing Lauren onto his make shift bed made of pillows and random cushions he'd picked up along the way, Daryl went back outside, grabbing his bow and Lauren's bag before putting out the fire. He stood just outside the tent, staring at the doorway with his eyebrows drawn down. The woman confused him, irritated him in the worst of ways, but he wanted to know more about her, why she was able to get under his damn skin so easily.

He hunched over, walking back inside the tent before turning and zipping it closed. As he set his crossbow on the floor of the tent near the door, he sat gently on the small camp stool, peeling off his boots and tossing them towards the exit. He looked over to his bed, of sorts, and saw Lauren curled up in a ball in the corner. He could see the Goosebumps covering her half bare legs, despite her being dressed in a heavy sweater. He pulled the poncho she gave him off, tugging it over his head and off his torso. Draping it across the body, he noticed some of the tension leak out of her as she relaxed with a sigh.

He pulled off his dirty tank top, replacing it with a slightly, albeit not by much, cleaner shirt before laying down on the makeshift mattress as far from Lauren as he could get. His side was aching, he was bone tired, but he wasn't going to sleep anywhere but his bed, regardless if the girl was there or not. He grabbed his vest and bundled it up, shoving it under his head, Lauren was using his pillow so he'd have to make due. Closing his eyes, Daryl knew he'd be awake long before Lauren to start hunting. He let himself relax, as much as one could in the apocalypse, and drift off to sleep.

* * *

 

The first thing Lauren felt when she woke up was warm. It wasn't too strange for her to wake up warm, considering how late into the summer it was, but it was a different kind of warm. That comfortable, safe type of warmth you get when someone lends you their favourite, well worn sweater. Lauren breathed deep, curling into the warmth. She reached down to tuck her hands into her sweater pocket, her brows drawing down when they came in contact with woolen fabric. Lauren sat up quickly, eyes snapping open.

Lauren looked around, frowning when she didn't recognize the tent she was in. She glanced down at the fabric between her fingers, it had the same pattern as the poncho she gave to Daryl. She grabbed the poncho, pulling it off her body wrapping it instead around her shoulders like a blanket.

She gently pulled the flap of the tent open, cautiously peering outside. Sitting in front of the fire pit - despite it not being lit - was Daryl sitting with his back to the tent. Lauren crawled out of the tent, pulling the loose poncho closer around her shoulders. Turning and zipping up the tent before approaching the man, Lauren stood up and walked toward the log.

"Uh," Lauren started to speak before stopping to clear her throat. "G'mornin'". She slowly approached Daryl when she didn't receive any acknowledgment, glancing over his shoulder when she got close. He was bent over a backpack, checking through the things packed inside.

Standing straight, Lauren walked around the log Daryl had himself seated on. "Sorry for last night, I guess with all the excitement I was a lot more tired than I originally thought." She glanced over, catching the brisk nod Daryl gave to her apology. "You leaving?" Lauren asked raising an brow and nodding her head towards the bag.

Daryl grunted, standing fast before throwing the bag over his shoulder, "goin' hunting." he grumbled, biting the cuticle of his thumb. "Gotta eat, after all we's got one extra mouth to feed 'round here." Reaching down, Daryl grabbed his crossbow."

Lauren bit her lip, brows drawing down into a tight pinch. "Let me help then, if I'm such an inconvenience." Lauren started, grabbing her axe and bag that were still leaning against the log. "Believe it or not, Daryl, I'm not incompetent out here, I can be of use." she swung her bag over her shoulders, rolling up the sleeves on her sweater, it would have to come off sooner than later, but it would keep most of the bugs off, and out, of her until then.

Daryl turned towards the woods with a scoff, "well, c'mon then, but you best not be going around scaring off the game." He started walking to the woods, not bothering to slow his stride for the shorter woman.

Lauren took off after him, jogging to reach his side. "I'm not a child Dixon, I've been in the woods on plenty of huntin' trips before. Gramps' place was right on the edge of the forest like this too, and him and Gram used to take me out all the time." Lauren swung the head of the axe upwards, letting the handle thunk back on to her shoulder. "Gramps always thought eatin' off the land was better than the grocery. And Gram wanted to make sure iffen I ever got lost in the woods, I'd know what to pick and what not to pick." Lauren glanced over at Daryl, gauging his reaction before directing her attention the woods in front of her again.

She held out her arm in front of her towards the woods, "After you Mr. Dixon, after all, you've got the long ranged weapon." After the man passed her into the woods, Lauren trailed after him, scanning the forest floor around them looking for anything edible.

"So what exactly are ya lookin' for?" Daryl murmured, stepping carefully through the brush and fallen leaves, making sure his steps were as silent as they could be.

Lauren did her best to walk in his prints, careful to keep her steps light while being conscious of any approaching predators. She looked around them, her eyes catching on the bright, thorny purple flower she was used to. Stepping off beside Daryl and tapping his arm gently to get his attention, Lauren kneeled on the ground near the plant. "It's a Silybum plant," she said, holding back a chuckle at the look of confusion that crossed Daryl's face. "Also known as milk thistle. The leaves taste a lot like spinach, and you can take the root and boil it, like a potato."

 Lauren reached into the side pocket of her pack grabbing her utility tool and flipping open one of the blades. She dug into the ground around the plant, pulling up the root of the plant before cutting it into smaller sections, to make it easier to go into her pack. "It's probably one of the most versatile edible plants I know of, that ain't already in the stores."

She shoved the plant into her backpack after pulling it down off her shoulders, having broken up the plant into parts to save room. "D'ya mind just waiting a sec while I grab a few of these?" She asked, looking up and behind her at Daryl, who's eyes were continuously scanning the surrounding trees.

"Just make it quick." He spoke, shoulders tense and his eyes focused.

A few moments later, Lauren was brushing the dirt off the knees of her shorts and standing behind Daryl. She readjusted the pack onto her shoulder, tapping him on the arm. "Alright, I've got plenty of these, we can keep going." She smile lightly, eyes looking around for any other plants she may have missed.

Making their way through the woods was excruciating, watching for game they could take back to camp, plants that Lauren could gather and being on the lookout for walkers. Along the way, Lauren told Daryl about the things her grandmother had taught her about plants, which had medicinal properties, and what could be eaten raw, and what had to be cooked first.

By mid afternoon, they had stopped at a river bank, filling up canteens and taking a rest. Daryl had a string of game across his back; squirrels, and a few rabbits mostly. Taking out a small container from his backpack, Daryl sat on a downed tree close to the bank and started setting up a small fishing line with a large stick.

Behind him, sitting further up the ledge, Lauren was taking inventory on what she had gathered. Currently she had a number of milk thistle plants, some chive plants, a mixture of both choke cherry, black berry, and blue berries, a few plantain weeds, a bundle of wild asparagus plants with the roots still attached, and some sorrel.

Lauren replaced all the plants in her bag, moving down the bank of the river closer to Daryl, only to stop when she heard an odd sound. "D'you hear that?" She asked, looking over her shoulder towards the woods behind her.

Daryl gestured her closer handing her the impromptu fishing rod, before grabbing his crossbow from beside him.

"What d'you think it was?" she asked in a whisper. Crouching low and scanning through the trees. She whipped her head around when she heard it again, a flash of colour moving in the woods.

"Sounds like a damn turkey," Daryl grumbled, moving in front of her, watching the woods closely. All of a sudden, Daryl released the bolt from the bow, watching it fly through the air. There was a squawk, before the woods fell silent. "Don't move." he said, walking towards where they had heard the sound.

Lauren sat on the bank of the river bouncing the fishing line up and down in the water, hoping that the small piece of squirrel that was being used as bait would attract something in the water. She didn't have to wait long before the was a tug on the end of the line. She reached forward, pulling the hook, and hopefully the fish towards her. Pulling the hook out of the water, Lauren reached forward to grab the creek chub dangling from the hook. After freeing the hook from its mouth, Lauren snapped it's neck, stringing a small Y shaped branch through the gills.

 Hearing a snap to the left, Lauren whipped her head around, grabbing for the axe she had laid beside her. Picking it up and positioning her hands, she braced herself for an attack.


End file.
